and they worked more than well enough in my 430 ex ii and my 580 ex ii. But they are finally not holding much of a charge and I know it is time to move into the big leagues with Eneloop.

I'm cheap... I know it... and while I have a ton of cash invested in gear, if I can save $4 by not having to buy an Eneloop branded recharging station, that is exactly what I will do.

So will there be a performance drop off? Will the voltage overheat the batteries and reduce their lifespan? Should I just bite the bullet and not worry so much about $4?

Thanks a bunch.

I have about eighty eneloops and about eighty other various nimh batteries, I have about eight different chargers none of them enelopp and I have never had any issues charging them in whatever charger is available.

and they worked more than well enough in my 430 ex ii and my 580 ex ii. But they are finally not holding much of a charge and I know it is time to move into the big leagues with Eneloop.

I'm cheap... I know it... and while I have a ton of cash invested in gear, if I can save $4 by not having to buy an Eneloop branded recharging station, that is exactly what I will do.

So will there be a performance drop off? Will the voltage overheat the batteries and reduce their lifespan? Should I just bite the bullet and not worry so much about $4?

Thanks a bunch.

I have about eighty eneloops and about eighty other various nimh batteries, I have about eight different chargers none of them enelopp and I have never had any issues charging them in whatever charger is available.

Eli452 has it right. Rule of thumb: charge current is about a third or a quarter (opinions very) of the capacity. 500-700mAh is good for your Eneloops. I use a cheap La Crosse BC700, there's a few rebranded versions out there too. Not the best charger in the world though, you might want to spend a little more for convenience.

The main benefit is that it has separate charging circuits for each battery so it ensures each battery is charged to full capacity - no more, no less. You can also set the charge current for each battery at 200mA, 500mA or 700mA (low is healthier for the battery but slower).

If required, it can also discharge before recharging, and to revive the capacity of old batteries, it can do the discharge / charge cycle repeatedly until it detects that the battery has reached its maximum capacity.

I had an Energiser charger and had been using it to charge my Eneloop XX batteries. It all appeared to me to work well but I purchased the charger below just because I read good things about it online.

Well what a difference, using the C9000 improved capacity lost, my batteries last ~20% longer now. The eneloop XX's were not very old which leads me to believe the Energiser charger was robbing them of capacity.

Dear Jdramirez.Last years, I am very luck to buy 4 packs of Eneloops( 1 pack = 8 Batteries) from closed( Bankrupted) Ritz camera stores---The Reg. Price = $ 24.99 Per pack of 8 AA., Finial Sales price =$ 6.25( at 25% of original cost), and use my Old Chargers---Out put from 200 mA ( the slowest charger-over night) to out put 1500 mA super Fast Charger.Yes , When I have the time, I use slow charger, But When I am in hurry, I use the fast charger.So far, It work great for the Awesome Eneloops.Nice to talk to you.SuraponPS. I buy the Sandwich Plastic Box = $ 1.00 US Dollar from Walmart to keep my Eneloops, and use the rubber strip to separated between them.

I had an Energiser charger and had been using it to charge my Eneloop XX batteries. It all appeared to me to work well but I purchased the charger below just because I read good things about it online.

Well what a difference, using the C9000 improved capacity lost, my batteries last ~20% longer now. The eneloop XX's were not very old which leads me to believe the Energiser charger was robbing them of capacity.

If you have rechargeable batteries, this charger is a no brainer.

+1 to this. i have something similar that allows for more control over the charging process and it increases the life and performance of my rechargeable batteries. its worth it to spend a couple extra bucks now as it will save you alot of money in the long term. a high end charger can even rescue a seemingly dead set of batteries.

Recommended chargers:The Maha 9000, c801d, c808mThe AV4m, the LaCrosse 700/1000 (different countries-different names; I know them as Technoline)The MEC AP8.Important for suvivi g/good charging: a good cutoff at the end of charging; with delta peak cutoff and temeprature control not to overheat.My first, not cheap, Ansmann Energy 8 killed several cells. Costed my some energy to realize it is expensive crap.